Pope Smashers
 

I know I posted a thread on the old board about this group, but I really wanted to know if you have heard of them before I made the thread. & if you have heard them, What did you think? Personally, I think they're a great underground punk group. If you need to hear what they sound like, I'll post a link as soon as you ask me.

Alledgedly inspired by Sonic Youth and The Fall, I assure you it's worth a listen.

I've listened to this download a few times

Hip- Do you think you could set-up a link for the people who haven't heard them? I would except, I'm tired of burning this over & over again from LP. It's tough work. Thanks for your post.

I'm afraid I'm not yet at that stage of computer literacy! It's on my list though, but first I need to find if there's a way to copy 'n paste in this forum. I like to think of myself as an ambassador for copy n paste, so I feel a little restrained at the moment.

Back on topic: It's worth doing again. It took me ages to get anyone to listen to The Duke Spirit, but I knew folks would like it if they tried. Perservere, mate!

[quote=Hip Priest]I'm afraid I'm not yet at that stage of computer literacy! It's on my list though, but first I need to find if there's a way to copy 'n paste in this forum. I like to think of myself as an ambassador for copy n paste, so I feel a little restrained at the moment.

I'll tell you how. Just take the file that you download for your personal use, go to yousendit, e-mail the file to an e-mail address (it can be yours if you choose), copy the link address that yousendit gives you when the file has been sent successfully, & post the link address in the thread. But you probably knew how to do that anyway. Hey, take it from me, I'm no computer genius either.

Sad news, marley:

from http://www.tgrec.com/news/detail.php?id=126

!!! Mourn The Loss of Original Drummer, Mikel Gius

On Dec 17, 2005 Anthony Mikel Gius was struck and killed by a car while riding his bike. Mike was the original drummer for !!!, helping start the band back in the fall of 1996.

Mario writes,
I met him when I was 8 after a mutual friend told me I
"had to meet the other guy in the neighborhood with
more Kiss posters than you". We quickly became best
friends and went on to share the most significant
times of our lives together...family vacations,
puberty, crushes, loves, mixtapes, illicit activities,
dancing, air guitar/drums, acutal guitar/drums, bands,
US tours.

He was a straight prodigy on the drums; we played "tom
sawyer" and "for whom the bell tolls" from start to
finish the first day he got them...spoiled me for
life. He had a unique, occasionally overwhelming
style that coincided with the way he lived his life.
No matter what you thought of him, he made bands, some
ordinary, some not so, worth paying attention to.

We grew apart as our passions led us down different
paths. I still love him like a brother and miss him
terribly.

These are recordings with Mike that people canhear/obtain without exerting too much effort:

* The Yahmos - Off Your Parents 7" (available on Moo-La-La Records)
* The Yahmos - Undefeated LP (Gern Blandsten Records)
* The Popesmashers - This Is A Test 7" (Sunney Sindicut Records)
* !!! - s/t 7" (Sound Virus Records)
* !!!/Outhud split 12" (GSL/Zum records)

About the band !!! (don't know their sound): http://www.tgrec.com/bands/band.php?id=7

This breaks my heart. I agree w/ everyword that Mario says.

Mike Gius: R.I.P

I'm going to moarn in my own way. I am going to listen to the Pope Smashers,
"This Is A Test" right now.

That was one of my favorite bands here in Sacto in the mid-90's, so it's very pleasing to me that you've begun a thread about them here. I always thought I heard echoes of "Sister" in the song "Manuel Luz/Man, You'll Lose."

They are truly a band that should have way more recognition then it has gotten. For such a small little EP, "This Is A Test" was filled w/ great music. Thanks enlarge part to the late Mike Gius. I was listening to it the other day, & I just thought of what this band could have accomplished, had they been together for a longer period of time. I truly love the Pope Smashers.

They were around longer than you think, perhaps. There's a full-length CD's worth of songs...sorta semi-available. I think it may have been a CDR only, but I can ask around and report back.

After 2000, the band broke up, but several of the members including Mike and the singer Bert started a new band called New Maps Out of Hell, and their first show was in my living room. They burned pretty brightly for a while, but things seemed way too volatile with them. Early shows were all great, but six months later, they became frustratingly hit or miss depending largely on how much drinking had happened before their showtime. I think they toured up I-5 a bit and it went badly for them. Too bad, 'cos that band's record might've sounded great if it had been recorded before implosion.

Two or three years of relative silence followed that, but just last year, Mike, Bert, and another ex-Pope Smasher that I work with formed a new band. A bit more traditional-sounding, reportedly, but they were excited about being onto something, and they seemed interested in booking a first show soon just before Mike was killed in the tragic bike accident a few months ago.

I didn't know you knew them personally. I'm sorry to hear about Mike.
I would have loved to heard the new stuff they were working on.
As for their early cd-r as you mentioned, please find out all you can about it, then fill me in on the details 'cuz I'd love to have this in my collection.

re the new band. Is that '!!!'? !!! contain some ex Popesmashers, including the late Mike, and are apparantly touring a support with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. That link I gave is for !!!.

Would love to have seen !!!. I'd probably watch the !!! show, then leave before the Chilli Peppers went on.

That's what I was thinking.

RHCP would have gotten their asses booed off stage after an audience heard such band of presence.
I'll always remeber picking out that LP, "This Is A Test" at my local record shop, & only paying a $1 for it. & it's tuned out to be one of my favorite records in my whole collection.

Mike was in !!! when they formed, but he stayed behind when the band moved from Sacramento to NYC.

The main two Sacto bands that contributed members to !!! were Pope Smashers and the Yah Mos, but the entire band family tree branches out far and wide.

!!! was such a different band then. If you've heard "The Dis-Ease" b/w "The Funky Branca," then you know that already.